The first cases surfaced in Illinois, where state officials announced last week that they were investigating illnesses involving the same outbreak strain in people from 11 of the state's counties, plus one patient from Wisconsin. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that 50 of the patients are from Illinois.
Other cases are from Missouri (14), Indiana (9), Wisconsin (3), and Pennsylvania (2). Locations with one case so far include Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
Illness onsets, available for 81 of the patients, range from Nov 1 through Dec 14. The median age is 28, and 69% of the cases are in females. About 23% of the patients were hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.
Salmonella Outbreak 15 States
The CDC said the Salmonella serotype involved in the outbreak commonly occurs in the United States, and some cases might not be related to the outbreak.
The CDC said preliminary findings from interviews with sick patients suggest a link to eating sprouts at a national sandwich chain. It said federal, state, and local public health departments are continuing surveillance for new cases and are tracing potentially contaminated products.
In other developments, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday released an inspection report on Sally Jackson Cheese, an Oroville, Wash., company that was recently linked to eight Escherichia coli O157:H7 cases. The report contains 12 observations that cover a host of sanitary and facility problems.
Salmonella Outbreak 15 States
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